Daily Republican., 1887-08-01

her life . truthful, pure.minded, good
girl, whose sense Of honor and veraoity
was Of the keepest kivd. During eli
this time Of deception, lasting nearly .
year, ,she WAS sotively engaged In tsach.
ing In the family Of Mrs. Coffin, and on
four evenings Of the week giving French
Lessons to Q class of adults, for which
she Was cminently Quslifed. speaking
French ~ huently rs Euglish Thus,
you sec, she was leading double life
that Of her regular occupation aud this
ideal existence perfected entirely from
her imagination.
BEGINNING OF THE END
"a few weeks ago she left Mrs Cof.
fine for New York, ostenslbly to COM
plete the srran gements for her voyage
to Europe and also that Of her friends.
Soon after her arrival she os led here
upon me at this bouse, and came step.
ping lightly aud blithely into this
room. was surprised and delighted
to see ber. know nothing Of this en-.
Rsgement, bat I remarked upon her
ohet etrful and happy expression, and
jokingly said, Are you going to get
mArrie0?' To my surprise she replied,
Yes; you have guessed it!' 1 remarked
that l hoped for her sake he was d
wealthy man. She answered thst he
was, that he had sbuudarca of money.
Shs then gave ms some of the details,
invited me to be one OF the wedding
party, which invitation l had to de-
cline, but upon her pressing me to m AXE
her house my home when did 60 70
London 1 gave Q oheerful consent.
heard the story oil in good faith and
WAS ~ much deceived as any OF her
other ffit nds. 1 had not the slightest
misgivinRs as to Its truthfulness, and
the only reflection / made about IL WAS
In an observation made to my mother
at dinner, that 1t was q very strange
coincidence that ElOrence's marriage
should come about very much In the
same way as che had described the en-.
gage mept and wedding OF o, OF her
chara raoters in an uE6uished novel, the
man uscript Of which had read
Il did not see anything more Of Flor
ence until Saturday night week. cnme
into this room about IL O'Clock Of that
night, having been out nearly all day,
and found upon my desk a piece OF
paper on which was written message
that Florence desired to see me. went
to the house of the friend where abe
was stay ing. I found her In bod in q
very nervous ate, sleepless. l admin.
istered q soporifc. She obtained some
sleep, but remained there all night.
but to make this intricste story
more Ineligible must go back little
OF the incident have Just related.
GETTING DOWN TO HARD PAN.
"On the morning of the Saturday that
l visited Florence at midnight the crisis
In her delusion had arrived. Her
friepds whom she had 10 vited to her
English wedding were prepared to start
many Of them hsd made elaborate anu
expensive additions to their toilet and
we're on the tiptoe Of expectation Of q
jauut to Europe, for which nearly all
the expenses would be paid by eome-
body else. Part OF the announced pro-
gram was that money orders to pay
their travelling expenses to New York
should be sent them about o week be
fore the sailing of the steamship Etruria
to Liverpool last Saturday, the vessel
the Wedding party was to EN- bark upon.
"Florenoe had not toe money to pay
for these money orders. She had pain
full realization that she could not ideal
ize dollars and cents. Unless she sent
this money there would be an exposure
of her delusion, This was an objective
fact that thrust itself upon her reason
for solution. There we're two ways she
could eolve it-she could commit suicide
or Mr.. Crowninshield must die She
decided upon the latter alternative
She sent TO Mrs. Coffin and to all her In
vited friends teleSrams, stating that
MIR. Orowninshield had died on the
voyage. Having done that she returned
| to the house, where she is now stay ing
To those friends she told the story sub.
| stEntially as related in tho Herald o.
Tuesday, OF the receipt OF cablegrsml
announcing Mr.. Crowninshieid's daath
of the Interview at the Astor ii ouse. anC
the hurried departure OF Mr.. Crowntn.
ehield's agent, who had left her in th
care OF gentleman friend, rho had ha,
her driven home in Q carriage.
THE REAL But UNPLEASANT TRUTH
"Fiorsu cs's telegram to Mrs. Cofi
| when I arrived at the house Sasurda
light Mrs. Coffin was there. We had
OF course, nj. accepted the story q
gard to her friends In accordance there
with On Monday morning suggesto
that the Cunard Company ought TO b
l
could make another dispensat,on of th
ten staterooms that had been engaged
sent q messenger to their Off ce. au
ho returned with the amazing iu tslli
gence, to us, that they knew nothing q
any Miss Florence Stone or Mr.. Crown
inshield or the engagement of ten state
rooms for aUy party.
II went 10 Florence, told her wha
the message was, aid said, How
this?'
"She then confessed all, and our ow
involuntary deception was revealed I
our astonished mental vision.
"That l think, Is substantially th
story. Florence 10 still living In tw
worlds. She has yet the illusion q
living in social splepdor and of havi 10
oil the pleasures of life at her beck an
call. But she is utterly irresponsible
and to be pitied."
----
She Shot the Villain.
UTICA, N. Y, July 3l-The Misse
Alice aud Sarah Oham plain, about 4
years old, run fam between this cit